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eMOLT Update 2023-08-21
The Woods Hole Science Stroll was a great opportunity to engage the
public and showcase the eMOLT system alongside our other Cooperative
Research endeavors. People were impressed with the willingness of
fishermen to work with scientists to collect data that benefits the
industry, scientific endeavors, and the public at large. One of the less
talked about benefits of citizen science projects like this is that they
democratize science, pulling researchers out of our ivory towers,
empowering you all to participate in the process, and promoting
engagement with society at large. These benefits are highlighted in a
recent article published in The Journal of Science Communication called
“Exploring
scientists’ perceptions of citizen science for public engagement with
science”. The full article is pretty long, but you can read a
summary of it here
This past week, we got our first data from the DO loggers that were
hastily deployed up in Maine last week to monitor the potential impacts
of a large plankton bloom underway in the Gulf of Maine. So far, both
loggers that reported are showing good levels of Dissolved Oxygen with
no discernable downward trends off Cape Elizabeth and Isle Au Haut. We
will be working with our colleagues at The Lobster Institute to get some
more of these sensors out on Maine-based fishing vessels over the next
few weeks.
George and Huanxin went up to the South Shore on Friday afternoon and
upgraded the deckbox software on two lobster boats out of Cohasset. Of
course, driving back onto the Cape on a Friday afternoon in August isn’t
a great situation, but we try to work around fishermen’s availability as
best we can. It’s also why this update is coming out this morning
instead of last Friday.
JiM has been experimenting with a new open-source “particle tracking”
routine, recently developed by oceanographers in Norway, called
“OpenDrift”. It allows one to numerically simulate drifter tracks
through modeled ocean circulation fields. Thanks to some help from our
Rutger’s colleagues, he was able to make some initial tests of the
system using three student-built units currently drifting in the Gulf of
Maine. As see here, the
real drifters are distributed in different parts of the Gulf including
one of the Southern Maine Community Colleage units that has made its way
to the upper reaches of the Bay of Fundy. As seen below, it subjected to
the enormous tides. The eastern portion of Digby Harbor is visible in
the lower half of the frames.

As reported by the Provincetown
Independent, last week, Massachusetts DMF issued an advisory that
hypoxic zones had been identified near Barnstable and between
Provincetown and Wellfleet. While most loggers in western Cape Cod Bay
are reporting good oxygen levels, one logger showed a rapid decrease
beginning on August 12. Along with our colleagues from the Center for
Coastal Studies and DMF, we’ll continue to monitor the situation.

Forecasts
NECOFS Bottom Temperature Forecast

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Doppio Bottom Temperature Forecast

Acknowledgements
Thanks to Capt. Dave on the F/V Grace Sarah, Capt. Dustin on the F/V
Every Last Dollar and Capt. Sam on the F/V Alison Ann for reaching out
last week to report challenges with their systems. We were able to
remotely fix two of the three, and will continue monitoring the third to
see if things are ok. The text messages you send us are extremely
helpful to us in making the hardware more reliable.
Thanks also to Owen Nichols from the Center for Coastal Studies for
staying on late with Huanxin the other night as them attempted to
troubleshoot a bluetooth error on board the F/V Donna Marie. Owen has
been a patient supporter of the eMOLT program, and we appreciate his
ongoing efforts to keep the Outer Cape eMOLT fleet up and running.
Announcements
All the best, George and JiM
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